Bow Down(137)

And that scared me. I quickly took a drink to cover my embarrassment.

He laughed and slammed back his whisky. “Don’t be so fucking shy, girl. You came here looking for trouble. I decided I’d give you a taste.”

“I don’t want trouble. I just came for a drink.”

“Okay, a drink.” He nodded at my glass. “Drink up.”

“I’m okay for now.”

He laughed and ordered another whisky. “What do you do, Jessica?”

“I work in PR,” I said, lying again.

“What company would hire a girl like you to do their PR?”

“What does that mean?”

“Look at you. Short dress, perfect fucking legs, eyes that scream sex, sitting in a bar surrounded by dangerous men. You’re trouble; I can already feel it.”

“Do you like trouble?” I asked him.

“I do,” he said, smiling. “But I’m not sure you really know what you’re playing with.”

He slammed his drink back again, and I was impressed at the way he laughed at me again. Toward the back of the room, two men stood up and began to argue loudly.

He turned toward the commotion. I realized most of the room was staring at them, watching their voices getting louder. I couldn’t understand what they were arguing about, but I got the sense that it was a business deal that had gone wrong.

The whole atmosphere shifted in the room. There was an edge to the people as they leaned forward in their seats. I felt like I was suddenly surrounded by a bunch of hungry wolves, and they were all about to attack.

I was afraid.

Rafa stood up. “Come on,” he said.

“What?” I asked.

He took my hand, pulling me from my seat. “Come on.”

He started walking, letting go of my hand.

I glanced at the front door. I could have turned around and gotten out of there. I could have walked out into the night and just kept walking. I could have never looked back, never thought about following Rafa, the handsome stranger.

Instead, I looked back at his attractive frame sliding through the room and hurried to catch up.

We passed through the crowd, back toward the bathrooms. He pushed open an unmarked door and we walked into a storage room. There were boxes and racks of food, spices, and drinks all over. Toward the back, there was another door. He walked directly toward it and pushed it open.

We stepped out into the alley behind the bar.

“It was getting hot in there,” he said.

“What were they arguing about?”

“The same thing they always argue about,” he said. “Business.”

“What kind of business?”

He stepped toward me. I backed up until my back pressed against the door. There was no handle on the outside. I could feel the cold metal against the bare backs of my legs.

“You ask a lot of questions,” he said. “I’m tired of questions.” He stopped inches away from me, and my heart was pounding in my chest.

“What are we doing out here?”

“I thought you’d like a breath of fresh air.” He smirked, and I knew I should run away, but I was frozen.

It was his eyes. Both mocking and intense, I couldn’t look away from them. I realized that I was leaning closer to him, tipped in toward his body almost as if he had some kind of gravity yanking me closer. I wanted to touch his muscles, feel the hardness of his arms and trace the tattoos along his skin. I wanted to touch his lips.

Oh my god, I realized. I wanted to touch his lips.

“Thanks,” I said lamely.

“Don’t thank me yet. If you want, I can give you something to thank me for.”

“Maybe I should go.”

His lips grazed my neck. I stood completely still.

“Maybe,” he said. “I bet you want to run away. But you’re not moving, are you?”

“No. I’m not moving.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know.”

“I know. It’s because you want to know what it would feel like.”

“Like what would feel like?”

And then he kissed me.

I spent a lot of time thinking about my journalistic ethics. I knew that kissing someone who could be a subject of my story was crossing that ethical line, and that there was no going back.

That didn’t stop me. I kissed him back, wrapping my arms around his neck and pulling him against me.

He crushed his lips against mine, kissing me hard, pressing my body against the metal door. I wanted him to push hard as his hands grabbed my hips, pulling me against him. Our tongues rolled through each other, and I loved his taste, loved his strong hands, the way he grabbed me and took me. I realized that I was dripping wet and completely, totally, utterly out of my mind.

The kiss felt like it lasted forever. Until I felt the door behind me start to open and I stumbled forward.